Samsung emerged from a rough 2012 as the global leader in mobile patents

But ZTE made the most applications

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Samsung patents can't be mentioned without Apple coming up in the same breath, but the Galaxy-maker trumped its Cupertino rival soundly in at least one way in 2012: Samsung acquired the most mobile patents and became the top mobile patent holder in the world.

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In a summary of his research into 2012, Sharma wrote, "Samsung has been fiercely building its patent portfolio in both Europe and the US and the efforts have paid off as it has built a significant portfolio and a formidable lead that is likely to serve it well in the coming years."

Nokia went from first to fourth place in 2012

Nokia previously held the most patents in the industry, but it fell down the rankings in 2012 along with Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent. IBM and Microsoft went up in the rankings, while Motorola dropped out of the top 10, according to Sharma.

Sony, Qualcomm, RIM (BlackBerry), and LG rounded out the top 10 mobile patent holders in 2012.

A global struggle

The research examined more than 7 million mobile patents in the U.S. and Europe, the two biggest patent markets in the world. It found that the U.S. accounts for 72 percent of mobile patents between the two regions, while one fifth of the patents filed in the U.S. and one tenth of those filed in Europe are related to mobiles.

In the U.S., at least, that number is up significantly, as less than 10 years ago less than 10 percent of total patents in the U.S. were mobile related.

Interestingly, Sharma's research places ZTE near the bottom of the patent food chain, both in granted mobile patents and pending applications. So it appears that either someone at ZTE (or the World Intellectual Property Organization, who provided the data for ZTE's report) fudged some numbers, or Sharma's research is leaving something out of this picture.

On the other hand it's not unusual for different research groups to reach slightly different conclusions.

Either way, it can take years for patents to be awarded after application, so maybe in 2015 or so ZTE (a Chinese company) will usurp the Korean king, Samsung, in the never-ending patent wars.